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"A key member of an alleged Virginia jihad network pleaded guilty to federal weapons and explosives charges [Friday], denying that he intended to harm Americans but acknowledging that he and his co-defendants had sought to fight on behalf of Muslim causes abroad," the Washington Post reports: Randall Todd Royer, 30, of Falls Church, entered his surprise plea in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. He faces at least 20 years in prison when he is sentenced April 9. Another of the 11 men originally charged in the case, Ibrahim Ahmed al-Hamdi, 26, of Alexandria, pleaded guilty to similar charges and faces...

WASHINGTON -- Two members of a Virginia-based Islamic terrorism network pleaded guilty to weapons and explosives charges Friday and promised to help the government, Attorney General John Ashcroft said. Randall Royer and Ibrahim al-Hamdi, who entered their pleas in suburban Alexandria, Virginia., had ties to the Lashkar-e-Taiba group seeking to drive India out of Kashmir. A federal indictment said the Northern Virginia group also had broader goals of helping the al-Qaida network; Afghanistan's former ruling militia, the Taliban; and rebels in Chechnya. Both Royer, 30, and al-Hamdi, 26, pleaded guilty to using and discharging a firearm during, and in relation...

WASHINGTON: Three members of Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, accused of a scheme to engage in "holy jehad" against Indian forces in Jammu and Kashmir , have been sentenced by a US court to prison terms ranging from three to 11 years following guilty pleas in August to conspiracy and weapons charges. US District Judge Leonie M Brinkema in Alexandria on Friday sentenced Yong Ki Kwon, 27, a naturalised US citizen of Fairfax, Khwaja Mahmood Hasan, 27, a Pakistani-born US citizen who lived in Alexandria, and Donald T Surratt, 30, a former US soldier of Suitland. The three men were among...

<p>ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- Three men accused of practicing military tactics at a paintball field outside Washington were sentenced to prison Friday for their roles in a Virginia jihad network that trained members to support a Pakistani terrorist group.</p> <p>Yong Ki Kwon and Khwaja Mahmood Hasan of Fairfax, Va., and Donald T. Surratt of Suitland, Md., pleaded guilty to conspiracy and gun charges in August.</p>

<p>ALEXANDRIA - The final three of 11 defendants in an alleged "Virginia jihad network" accused of training to support a Pakistani terrorist group are in U.S. custody.</p> <p>The three defendants - Seifullah Chapman, Sabri Benkhala and Khwaja Mahmood Hasan - had been in Saudi custody for nearly one month but arrived in the United States during the weekend and made an initial appearance yesterday in U.S. District Court.</p>

<p>October 16, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - The three Americans recently handed over to the U.S. by Saudi Arabia are members of an Islamic "paintball gang" wanted on terrorism charges in Virginia, officials revealed yesterday.</p> <p>Justice Department and Saudi embassy officials said three American citizens who were part of a group of 12 men indicted for "jihad training" at a remote paintball park in Spotsylvania County, Va., were arrested in Saudi Arabia this summer and extradited to the United States, where they will go on trial next month.</p>

Muhammed Aatique, a Montgomery County telecommunications engineer accused of training with a Pakistani terrorist group, pleaded guilty yesterday to aiding a conspiracy and gun charges. The case involves the largest number of alleged terrorists at home since the government launched its crackdown on terrorism after 9/11.

Terror charges link Montco to Kashmir. By Jennifer Lin, Mark Fazlollah, Maria Panaritis and Jeff Shields On Sept. 18, 2001, three men from Virginia pulled into the quiet Walnut Crossing apartment complex in Royersford, Montgomery County. They headed for Unit 607, the home of Mohammed Aatique, a wireless-phone engineer who had just moved there with his family. Like the rest of the country after the 9/11 attacks, the mood among residents was somber but patriotic. Aatique's upstairs neighbor had draped an American flag from her balcony. Yet the men at Aatique's home were planning an expedition that federal prosecutors would...